The Blue Demons (20-10, 5-1 Big East) used a strong effort at the plate by sophomore outfielder Samantha Dodd as well as another great day by freshman Kirsten Verdun with the bat and on the mound to propel themselves to a 7-0 victory and series sweep over the St. John’s Red Storm.Dodd, who did not have a hit in the first two games against St. John’s, went 3-3 with a run scored. She quickly took care of her hitless issue when she swung at the first pitch from Red Storm pitcher Linzee Sumrall and sent it over the left field fence to lead off the second inning.

“The first pitch looked good to me so I just went for it and went hard,” Dodd said about her second home run of the season. “I knew it was out.”

That home run would be all that DePaul would need on the day, but they would pile on to the offensive onslaught en route to a season-high 13 hits.

“Today she led the way and that’s what we know she’s capable of,” head coach Eugene Lenti commented about Dodd’s performance Sunday. “She’s not really that big, but she’s a powerful kid.”

She was far from the only Blue Demon with a good day though. Verdun and Katelyn Braget finished with a home run and two hits on the day. Alex Morocco also collected a pair of hits to finish the weekend series with five.

“We have a formula for success and its good pitching, good defense, timely hitting and that’s what the story was all weekend long,” Lenti said.

Verdun was once again in rare form on the mound, going five innings and striking out four Red Storm batters while only surrendering two hits and one walk. On the weekend she picked up all three wins, struck out 12 and only walked two.

“She’s just a good ball player,” Lenti said about Verdun, who is now 12-3 with a team-leading seven home runs and 22 runs batted in. “She’s capable of hitting home runs every time up and she’s capable of shutting down every team we face.”

DePaul’s defense, which faltered at times during the week against Louisville with eight errors in two games, responded in a major way this weekend as they only committed two in the three-game series.

The Blue Demons step out of conference play on Tuesday to take the Purple line for a clash against Big Ten opponent and cross-town foe Northwestern. For DePaul, right now it’s all about staying consistent.

“We have more people in the groove than out of the groove,” Lenti said, “so we just have to keep the momentum going.